


Little By Little

by Ravvi



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Cherryberry - Freeform, Emotional Trauma, Other, Soul Sex, Trauma Recovery, Underfell Sans, Underswap Sans, an absurd amount of fluff, and an excessively happy ending, self deprecation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 08:30:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10553256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravvi/pseuds/Ravvi
Summary: Red has issues





	

Red woke with a start as a trickle of slick warmth dribbled down the front of his spine.  The lingering heat behind his sternum and the pleasant tingles still rippling across his pelvis made it abundantly clear that he’d been dreaming about something pretty damn exciting.  A _wet dream_? He’d actually had a wet dream?  What was he, twelve?  Fucking hell, he had to get to the bathroom before he made a mess of Blue’s bed.   Grimacing, he pulled back the covers, then froze, staring down at his bare chest.

Holy fuck, his soul had manifested.   _Why_?!

_Go away_!  He thought desperately to the construct hovering just behind his sternum. His soul cheerfully ignored him, exuding a thin, pale fluid from its rounded surface that slid obscenely down his spine.  Cursing softly, Red walked as carefully as he could to the bathroom, one hand cupped below his disobedient soul in an effort to catch any drips.  He made it to the sink, clumsily draped a towel over the countertop, then leaned forward and turned the spigot on.  The water was almost achingly cold against his hand, and he quailed, knowing how much it was going to suck to make his soul go away like this.  Clenching his teeth, he wet the corner of the towel, then began to bring it up under his ribs to the cracked, dripping surface beneath them.

“Hey Red, are you-“

Red’s head snapped up to look into the mirror, face burning with embarrassment.  Blue was standing behind him, sleepy face wide with surprise as he stared at the lewd glow painting the inside of Red’s ribs.

“I-I-I…” Red swallowed, trying to push down the stutter that he could have sworn he’d finally stomped out.

“Red,” Blue breathed, taking a step forward.

Something about the tone of his voice made Red’s soul throb needily, brightening until the damn thing looked like a little sun hiding in his chest.   

“S-s-sorry,” Red muttered, hands shaking as he ineffectively tried to cover the gaps in his ribs.  “I ju-UST-“ his voice cut off with a squeak as his soul passed through his spine and out of his body.  Blue looked at it with undisguised wonder as it boldly hovered in the air in front of him, completely exposed.  Red buried his face in the towel with mortification, wishing desperately that he could take it back.  Unhidden by his ribs, the cracks that laced its surface were damningly visible, dim and dark bands striping the otherwise pure surface.

Ugly, damaged, shitty, _broken_ -

“Can I?” Blue asked softly, hands cupped below the essence of Red’s being.

Red couldn’t speak.  He couldn’t have heard right, there was no way anyone would _ever_ want to touch his ugly, broken soul, no way he should ever subject anyone to his hellscape of emotional baggage.  Especially not someone as kind and good his stupid little mercy-marshmallow of an interdimensional double.

But…

His soul quivered, and something inside him cried out at the thought of sending Blue away.

"Ok,” Red whispered, face still buried in the towel.

Blue gently pressed one forefinger into his soul and slowly stroked downward.  

“Haaahhh,” Red gasped, fingers and toes curling as a shiver ran through his entire body.  His bones felt light and warm, like he was floating.

Beautiful _honoured_ l **oveyousomuch** special _wantyou_ **WantToKeepGoing?**

Red nodded in answer to the unspoken question, overwhelmed by Blue’s positivity.  His eyesockets were wet and his face probably looked all stupid and soft right now, but it felt amazingly good when Blue gently took his soul in both hands and pressed his thumbs into the soft, slippery surface.

“Haahhh-B-Bluuuueee,” Red groaned, leaning heavily on the countertop as little shivers of pleasure made his knees feel weak.   Blue’s thoughts kept trickling across the contact, growing stronger and stronger with each gentle rub.  His baffling positivity and unshakable belief that there was good in everyone was never harder to understand, because now Red could feel just how genuine it was, how firmly it was rooted in his personality.  The concept was literally a facet of his being.

A sudden wave of despair cut through the blissful haze of pleasure like a knife.  Red gasped with a hard twitch, looking up into the mirror with sudden horror.  Oh fuck, he’d fucked this up somehow, Blue didn’t deserve this, didn’t deserve-

“Oh...oh stars.  Red I’m so, SO sorry…I,” Blue was holding his soul, looking down at it with concern.  “I touched one of the cracks and…” he trailed off, looking at the construct between his fingers with sudden curiosity.  The cracks had started to glow faintly, throwing jagged lines of light across Blue’s phalanges.

Red could tell what Blue wanted to do before he asked. “Can I touch...?”

NO.  H-he couldn’t, it didn’t feel good, he would probably _die_ -

“S-slowly,” Red heard himself whisper, still staring into the mirror.  Blue leaned forward, pressing his body against the curve of Red’s back as he brought the soul to his mouth and slowly licked along the deepest crack.

_He couldn’t keep doing this.  Day after day, working so much that he barely had time to fall into bed every night before it was time to do it all over again.  On and on, with no end in sight.  This was going to be his life.  Maybe for another year, maybe forever.  He didn't fucking know.  So…goddamn…tired…_

Red couldn’t feel Blue’s tongue touching his soul.  He could only see it happening in the mirror.  The scar in the essence of his being was literally numb, a crushing contrast to the beautiful sensitivity of before.  He took a shuddering breath, eyesockets burning as tears began to...

_What was the point?  There was nothing left to live for.  The second it looked like you had something, you became a goddamn target.  You lived in fear that what you’d worked your ass off for would be taken by someone else.  Not by somebody stronger, but by somebody who was just a little more desperate than you were…_

Tears welled up in the corners of Blue's eyes as he continued to gently lap at the crack in Red’s soul.   Echoes of the despair, fear, and exhaustion rippled through him, like a nightmare where he'd given up and was waiting for death to end it all.  Hopeless.  Desperately alone.  It was hard to keep going, hard to listen to all that pain and not fall into it himself.  Letting tears roll unchecked down his face, Blue pressed his tongue into the crack again.  It had a strange, scorched taste, like it had been burned.

_His head was aching.  They’d taken his clothes, his shoes, the little money he’d been carrying, left him broken, violated, and dying.  It was dark...he was cold...  
_

Red choked out a sob, and his knees buckled.  Blue eased him to the floor, holding him tightly...

_“Worthless piece of gutter trash,” the dog snarled, throwing him into a wall.  She lifted a heavy axe above her head, staring into his eyes._

_“We were friends,” he whispered.  “I…”_

_“Pathetic,” she slammed the flat of the axe across his face.  Pain slammed through his jaw and he reeled, raw magic dripping down his face._

_“You don’t deserve to survive.”_

Blue held Red in his arms as the little skeleton cried softly, pulling the soul away from his mouth.  Wordlessly, moved back to the undamaged parts and continued rubbing them gently, focusing on keeping the motion soothing and reassuring.

_Needed.  Loved.  Worthwhile._

“Look,” he finally said quietly, holding Red’s soul in front of him.  Red sniffed, messily swiping at his eyesockets with the palms of his hands.   The cracks in his soul were glowing so brightly that it almost hurt to look at it, light dancing off the tiled floor and the walls around them as Blue continued his tender massage.  After a moment, the light pulsed, faded, and was gone.

One of the cracks had disappeared.

It was one of the smaller, lighter cracks, but Red knew the surface of his own soul, could sharply remember every incident that had cut him so deeply that he’d felt as though he was splitting apart.  The difference was startling.  

Tentatively, he reached out and touched the newly unblemished surface where the crack had been, sucking in a breath as the construct quivered and a rush of tingles ran up his arm.

He could feel it again.

**Author's Note:**

> Huh...does soul sex merit an 'E' rating? I honestly don't know...meh, let me know if I should bump it up. It's probably fine as an 'M,' but I could be wrong.


End file.
